Record Detail

Plagiarism has been on the rise amongst university students in recent decades. This
study puts university teachers in the spotlight and investigates their role in raising
students’ awareness about plagiarism. To that end, plagiarism policies in 207 Iranian
university TEFL teachers’ syllabuses were analyzed. The researchers analyzed the
syllabuses to find out if they contain a plagiarism policy, and if so, how the term is
defined; whether they approach the issue of plagiarism directly; if they offer students
any guidelines on how to avoid plagiarism; and if the consequences of committing
plagiarism are specified. The results indicated that the majority of the syllabuses (83.
6%) lacked a plagiarism policy and those that did include a policy were often vague
in their definition of the phenomenon. However, when there was a plagiarism policy
in the syllabuses, the teachers tried to address the issue directly half of the time and
offered students brief guidelines on how to avoid plagiaristic behavior, which was a
small step in the right direction. It is recommended that other higher education
institutions make it obligatory for their academic staff to include a plagiarism policy
in their syllabuses if they wish to cultivate academic integrity in students.